


New Rule

by Rhyo



Category: Stephanie Plum - Janet Evanovich
Genre: Gen, mentions of Stephanie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 03:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6687796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhyo/pseuds/Rhyo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ranger has been around Trenton for a bit and decides to make it home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Rule

**Author's Note:**

> Once upon a time I wrote in this fandom, under a different name. Eventually, somewhere around Book 8 or 9, I gave up on it. Most of the stuff I wrote is set around that time, but some of them are prequels and epilogues. This particular story is a prequel, before Book 1.

Rating: G  
Notes: This was the first thing I ever wrote for Plum, I am pretty sure. It would have been written sometime after Book 7 came out and before Book 8 was released.

Trenton, two or three years ago -

He stood in front of the bullet-proof plate glass window, looking down at the riverfront district in Trenton. Lights were starting to come on and reflect off the water, but it didn't really help hide the grimy, industrial nature of this part of the city. He'd been here for two years and he still couldn't think of it as home.

Christ, this is an ugly town, he thought.

Perfect for his mood. He finished off his beer in a long, long swallow, and sighed. Drinking too much again. How many did this make tonight? He couldn't remember. Bad sign. Time to kick alcohol completely. Been down the recreational alcohol road before and it hadn't led anywhere good. He walked over to the fridge, pulled out the rest of the beers, opened them and poured them down the drain. He knew he was only drinking because he was bored. He opened a bottle of water.

Lot of other things to stop, too. Time to back off the off-shore jobs for old friends. Tank was right, those were going to get him killed, eventually - just a matter of time before he wasn't quite quick enough or quite smart enough on a job.

Plenty to do around here, anyway. Maybe not the same level of adrenaline rush, but adrenaline didn't do you any good if you were dead. The local jobs paid well and he had been developing a pretty impressive bank account. Time to diversify, broaden some horizons. He'd turned 30 last year - good time as any to become a legitimate businessman - or at least closer to one. Hell, he'd even started buying commercial real estate for investments. Mr. Respectable. What a joke.

He sat down on the leather sofa, put his booted feet up on the table and let his head fall back. The apartment was quiet and empty. Not many personal items. He didn't bring people here. This wasn't a home, it was just a place. The last place he'd called home had been in Miami.

Miami. He'd been back from another hopeless trip to Miami for a week now and he was still angry about it. Florida had been beautiful and 1400 miles was too far to be from his daughter, but it wasn't nearly far enough from his ex-wife.

All he had asked her to do was to let him protect her, to let him upgrade the security system on the house - his old home - and for her to accept a driver/bodyguard, especially to take their daughter to and from school and on outings. From the outraged screaming, anyone would have thought he'd asked her to knock down the walls of the house and walk around naked. He shook his head.

Sometimes being in the same solar system was too close to her. What was his attraction to crazy fucking women? Why couldn't he pick normal ones? A childhood taunt came back to him. Takes one to know one. If he was ever stupid enough to want a relationship with a woman again, it sure as hell wasn't going to be with another mouthy woman with attitude that refused to listen to him or do what he told her to do.

Fuck that, he thought. New rule: I don't do relationships. And there isn't a woman out there that can make me break that rule.

His cell rang.

"Yo."

"Ranger, this is Connie - from the office?" He nearly smiled as he pictured her improbably tall hair. What now, another file for him? "Listen, Ranger, I need a favor. Vinnie's cousin, Stephanie Plum, just started working here as a bounty hunter, and ..and she needs some help. Like, you know, advice on how to be a bounty hunter? Would you .. help her out?"

Not a fucking chance - he was not going to talk to some amateur and especially not one that was related to Vinnie Plum. "I don't think so, Connie."

"Listen, Ranger, please, as a favor for me?" She hurried to the next part. "And, Ranger, it'll really piss Vinnie off. He asked me to ask you to scare her off, and if you helped her, well then…"

He sighed. "All right, Connie, I'll talk to her. Once. And then I'm through with her, got it?"

~ finito


End file.
